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Marketing's broader importance extends to society as a whole. Marketing has helped introduce and gain acceptance of new products that have eased or enriched people's lives. It can inspire enhancements in existing products as marketers innovate to improve their position in the marketplace. Successful marketing builds demand for products and services, which, in turn, creates jobs. By contributing to the bottom line, successful marketing also allows firms to more fully engage in socially responsible activities.2 CEOs recognize the role of marketing in building strong brands and a loyal customer base, intangible assets that contribute heavily to the value of a firm. Consumer goods makers, health care insurers, nonprofit organizations, and industrial product manufacturers all trumpet their latest marketing achievements. Many now have a chief marketing officer (CMO) to put marketing on a more equal footing with other C-level executives such as the chief financial officer (CFO) or chief information officer (CIO).3 Making the right marketing decisions isn't always easy. One survey of more than a thousand senior marketing and sales executives revealed that although 83 percent felt that marketing and sales capabilities were a top priority for their organization's success, in rating their actual marketing effectiveness, only 6 percent felt that they were doing an "extremely good" job.4 Marketers must decide what features to design into a new product or service, what prices to set, where to sell products or offer services, and how much to spend on advertising, sales, the Internet, or mobile marketing. They must make those decisions in an Internet-fueled environment where consumers, competition, technology, and economic forces change rapidly, and the consequences of the marketer's words and actions can quickly multiply.

51. What do companies often use to assign and track various business tasks?

52. Corsica Steel Mill has developed a new process to reduce the time it takes to complete a phase of

production. To legally protect this new process from unauthorized use, the company should obtain a

53. The belief that profitable sales volume will result from giving customers quality products at fair and

reasonable prices is part of the

54. Which of the following is the most efficient tool for gathering external information that businesses need:

55. Which of the following types of information should a business keep on file indefinitely:

56. Information management can be a challenge because the business world is

57. The capability of combining graphics, text, animation, and sound is a unique characteristic of

__________ software programs.

58. Which of the following functions in a spreadsheet software program allows the computer user to change

the format of the data from ascending to descending order:

59. Project-management software can help businesspeople allocate necessary resources and

60. Dale stores his customer records in a remote database that he accesses via the Internet. Where does

Dale maintain his customer files?